A third of organizations claim to have suffered cryptojacking attacks

Mining malware has been a headache in 2018, and some organizations still don’t implement security measures

Cyber security organization experts report that nearly a third of the organizations claim to have suffered cryptojacking attacks, meanwhile, hackers keep working in their attempts to drive cryptocurrency malware attacks.

Cryptojacking attacks have become increasingly popular among the cybercriminals, as in most cases users who have been infected do not realize about the attack, because malware simply steals the processing capacity of their computers. All the average user might notice is that their computers are running a little slower than normal or that the fans are working harder.

The advantage for attackers is that this type of malware can remain unnoticed for a long time, which allows them to generate significant illicit revenues, which is why these attacks are becoming so prolific. A recent research carried by cyber security organization specialists suggests that three out of ten organizations in the UK have been victims of cryptojacking, just in the last month.

According to the survey, 59% of organizations have detected mining malware in their systems at some point, with 80% of these detections occurring over the past six months, which is when the cryptojacking boom really began.

60% of organizations that detected cryptojacking attacks said less than 50 devices were affected. Only one out of ten said that more than 100 machines were found to be infected with these malware variants.

The stealthy nature of cryptojacking attacks is the greatest feature of this practice, as only 16% of organizations noticed about the attack, after a noticeable decline in the performance of their devices; in another third of the organizations, network monitoring tools were responsible for discovering the malware, while in the remaining part of the survey, it was the employees who notified their companies.

Despite the increase in mining malware attacks, the survey found that one out of five companies does not have any contingency measures in case of cryptojacking.

Two-thirds of the surveyed companies claimed to have current cyber security organization policies; measures that depend on mechanisms such as network monitoring, antimalware software and blocking of mining websites to counteract these attacks.

According to reports of cyber security organization experts from the International Institute of Cyber Security, cryptojacking attacks increased by 8500% only in 2017, consolidating itself as a serious threat over the course of the present year.